PAX Prime video game convention comes to Seattle

PAX Prime. You will never find a more wretched hive of fun and nerdery.

Oh alright, it’s not wretched – though “hive” might be accurate. Tens of thousands of geeks crowded the halls of the Washington State Convention Center in downtown Seattle this weekend. And they all would get my reference in the first paragraph.

A PAX attendee shows off her costume. (Joe Dyer/seattlepi.com)

“Star Wars” is base-level knowledge for the Penny Arcade Expo attendees; these video-game nerds are on a whole ‘nother level. At least one-third of them dress up like something or other, from subtle get-ups like the women with long cat ears and tails, to over-the-top costumes like Master Chief from “Halo.” Or Tali’Zorah nar Rayya from “Mass Effect.” Or that big guy I saw with no shirt and a loincloth, dressed as … I dunno, a caveman? Help me out.

If you want to experience geek culture, take an escalator ride through the Convention Center when PAX is in town, as it has been this time of year since 2004. I can’t imagine what those elderly tourists I’d occasionally see must have been thinking – though every once in a while there’d be a middle-aged dude wearing a three-day PAX pass and a double-wide smile.

And if you want to check out and even play some of the biggest upcoming video games, PAX is where to do it. Midday on Saturday, lines to try some of the most popular titles stretched more than two hours long. “Screw that,” I heard one gamer say to his friends. “We’ll come back first thing tomorrow morning.”

It’s that kind of convention – the kind you can’t fully experience in a couple hours. People come from all over the Pacific Northwest – nay, the whole country – to spend three days among their own kind. They take photos with other costumed fans (like the blue-haired girl holding a homemade Thor’s hammer), browse T-shirt booths for some geek garb (like one of these featuring Nyan Cat), or chat about the latest Magic card they bartered (seriously, I heard that conversation).